Food security strategy leads to maintain stocks of basic commodities

By Sidi Mohamed | The Peninsula

Doha: Director of the Food Security Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, Masoud Jarallah Al Marri has said that Qatar developed a food security strategy which led to provide strategic stocks of basic commodities.

The work is going on projects to provide fodder to cover Qatar’s needs, in addition to diversifying import sources, from three countries to five countries, to avoid any interruption in supplies, he added.

Speaking to Qatar Radio on the recently held first Annual Planning Forum of the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), he noted that the forum aims to integrate efforts between the various departments of the Ministry, in addition to reviewing the ministry’s plans regarding sustainability and others.

Al Marri said: “The Forum is also a mean of communication to find out the possibilities and challenges that departments and others face in order to create sustainability and self-sufficiency in vegetables, meat, fish and other resources.”

He added: “We have increased local production, and the state helped encouraging the private sector to invest in vegetables, poultry, dairy, and red meat projects.”

“During the forum, we have presented many projects, including 10 projects for the production of vegetables in protected houses (shaded agricultural facilities), 4 projects for the production of green fodder, a project for fish farming and shrimp production, and a project for dairy production.”

“The projects that we have presented come in implementation of the National Food Security Strategy that was developed after the blockade with the aim of achieving self-sufficiency in vegetables 2018-2023,” he added.

The plan, he noted, consisted of increasing the vegetable products to 70 percent (from now to 2023) by working to improve the current farms to increase their production through agricultural support. 

The second step, he said, is to increase the local of production of vegetables by investment in project methods that rely on modern technologies. 

“Now we have about 33 percent self-sufficiency in vegetables. There are also projects and plans to increase products from fresh meat to 30 percent. After the blockade we have achieved 106 percent of self-sufficiency of milk and 127 percent from fresh poultry.”

Source: https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/05/10/2020/Food-security-strategy-leads-to-maintain-stocks-of-basic-commodities